<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Welcome to the Mad House by HarrietSilverwynd</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28341783">Welcome to the Mad House</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/HarrietSilverwynd/pseuds/HarrietSilverwynd'>HarrietSilverwynd</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Button House Tales [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Ghosts (TV 2019)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Coming to Terms with Death, Gen, Mary is wise, Original Character(s), captain would have been a great dad, don't worry the next one will be lighter, sad(ish?), ya'll talked about "ooh what if there was a gen z ghost lol" so here you go</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 19:41:13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,900</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28341783</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/HarrietSilverwynd/pseuds/HarrietSilverwynd</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>An unfortunate accident results in a new ghost to haunt Button House. Meanwhile, Thomas and Julian investigate the suspicious death of the new resident, and Kitty struggles to think of a club that all the ghosts can enjoy together.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alison (Ghosts TV 2019) &amp; Everyone, Alison/Mike (Ghosts TV 2019)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Button House Tales [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2075487</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>64</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Welcome to the Mad House</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Ayo so I was originally going to cancel this fic because I thought that nobody liked oc ghost stories but then hey I read a few and realised "wow, these are good" so here ya go!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"You sure this was a good idea?"</p><p>"What?" said Alison, looking out the window at the small group of campers.</p><p>"Renting out the grounds as a campsite for foster kids," replied Mike. Alison rolled her eyes.</p><p>"Come on, Mike, what's the worst that could happen?"</p><p>Mike raised his eyebrows.</p><p>"Actually, don't answer that," Alison said, thinking of all the many mishaps they had encountered at their time at Button House. "Anyway, it's the middle of the night, they'll all be asleep by now. And they're leaving tomorrow. <em>Relax,</em>" she added as she crawled into bed, pulling Mike down with her. "Now, come to bed. It's late. Captain's on night watch anyway, you know he'll tell us if he even suspects the slightest thing."</p><p>"Alright," Mike said, sinking down next to her. "You're right. I'm probably worrying about nothing."</p><p>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>The little campsite was quiet. Everyone there was zipped up asleep in their tents. Well, almost everyone.</p><p>One girl sat far off by the lake, reading a textbook by torchlight. She liked the calm of the night air around her as she studied. It was a much better atmosphere than of which she was used to. Leaning further against the tree by the lake, she squinted in the half-light and read further, engrossed by her studies.</p><p>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>"Bitches! Bitches!"</p><p>Not so far off, Barclay was traipsing through a dark field, shotgun in hand, calling after his disobedient dogs.</p><p>"Bitches!" he said again into the chilly night air. Why they couldn't poo in their own territory he did not know. Suddenly, a flash of wings in the dark night sky caught his eye.</p><p>"Aha," he said, cocking his gun. There was that sparrowhawk that had been plaguing his back garden for months. "I've got you!" he added as he aimed his gun at the bird, which was now resting on a tree stump just in the grounds of Button House.<br/>
"I have you no- augh!" Barclay cried as he slipped on a patch of mud, pulling the trigger of his gun. The shot rang out in the silence of the night and Barclay winced.</p><p>"Uh- bitches!" he called one last time, and thankfully the dogs came running straight towards him. Barclay turned on his heel and breathed a sigh of relief. Nobody had heard the gunshot. He quickly scurried home, vowing to shoot "that damn bird" the very next time he laid eyes on it.</p><p>Somewhere a little not too far off, a body fell backwards into the lake.</p><p>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>"Alison," a voice in her ear called out sharply.</p><p>"Mmff," Alison replied, refusing to wake up.</p><p>"Alison," the voice persisted.</p><p>"Mmff," Alison repeated.</p><p>"Alison!" cried several many voices this time, loudly enough to make Alison sit bolt upright in bed. She opened her eyes to find the Captain, Thomas, Julian, Mary, Pat, Kitty (no surprise there), Fanny and Robin, who was clutching Humphrey's head, all looking at her intently.</p><p>"Oh my God, guys," Alison said groggily, still not quite fully awake. "What is it?"</p><p>"Ah, well," the Captain began, at a surprising loss for words. "Something's happened."</p><p>It was just then that Alison took in the concerned looks on all of their faces.</p><p>"What?" she said, swinging her legs out of the bed. "What's happened?"</p><p>"I think you had better come outside," Fanny said, looking slightly pale. "It's best you see this for yourself."</p><p>"Tent people not happy," Robin stated, looking down through the window that overlooked the lake.</p><p>"Yeah," said Humphrey. "Think they want to talk to you, actually," he added, looking at Alison.</p><p>"Oh God, alright," she said, throwing on her dressing gown.</p><p>"What's happening?" asked Mike, waking up as Alison's sleeve smacked his head.</p><p>"Ghosts woke me up. Some emergency with the campers. Something's happened," she explained hastily, rushing out the bedroom, the gaggle of ghosts on her tail.</p><p>"Brilliant," Mike said, sitting up. "Now what?" he asked the empty room.</p><p>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>"Hi guys, is everything alright?" Alison said as she approached the small gathering that surrounded the lake. One of the two adults turned to her, looking extremely flustered.</p><p>"No, no it's not," she replied shakily.</p><p>"Why, what's happened?" Alison asked.</p><p>"Look!" the woman replied, pointing to the lake. A science textbook lay by the lake, (God, Alison didn't remember learning all that. Has the curriculum really changed that much?) a small water-stain on one of the pages. Following the woman's finger, Alison finally noticed the cause of all the commotion.</p><p>A body. In the lake. A dead body.</p><p>"Oh my God!" Alison cried, taking a step away from the lake. Suddenly her mind began whirring. If there was a dead body here, then did that mean-?</p><p>"Alright, everyone?" asked Mike as he stumbled up to the small crowd. "Why the sad faces? What, kid drowned in the lake?" He laughed at his own joke and Alison gave him a look. Mike scanned the water and winced at the sight of the corpse.</p><p>"Oh."</p><p>"Right," said Alison, taking charge of the situation. "Mike, ring the police. You lot, stay away from the lake. We'll sort this out." she added, receiving a nod of confirmation from a still-shocked Captain.</p><p>"Police? Yeah, yeah," Mike said, running back to the house to retrieve his phone. The campers all turned and walked back to their tents, the two adults talking together quietly. Alison turned to the ghosts.</p><p>"That's not nice, that," said Mary, looking down into the lake.</p><p>"Awful," agreed Fanny, tutting at the sight in front of her. The Captain cleared his throat.</p><p>"Alison," he said, "A girl has drowned here in this lake, in the grounds of Button House. You don't think that perhaps..?" he tailed off, but Alison knew exactly what he was asking. She was just thinking through her reply when a figure stepped out from behind the tree by the lake.</p><p>"Hello," she said cautiously, peering at the curious looking group in front of her.</p><p>Kitty screamed. "Ghost!"</p><p>"Kitty, we're ghosts." Thomas whispered.</p><p>"Oh, yes," Kitty remembered. "But it is still rather odd."</p><p>"Hello," Alison said to the girl, who looked rather bewildered. "How- how are you?"</p><p>Julian snorted. "Ah yes, a fine question. 'You've just died, how are you feeling?'"</p><p>"Died?" the girl said, thinking his words through. "Well, that explains a few things. I did think it felt too real to be a dream."</p><p>"Dreams can often feel incredibly realistic," Thomas said. "Why, I once had the most wonderful dream. I was-"</p><p>"Save it for Dream Club," Pat interrupted, focusing on the new ghost in front of him. "How are you doing?"</p><p>"I'm not sure," she replied. "Who are you?"</p><p>"Ghosts!" exclaimed Robin enthusiastically, and began pointing at each one of them. "Me first, fight with bear, then Humphrey, he go <em>skoosh,</em>" Robin made a cutting motion with his hand. "Then Mary, she get cooked, then Kitty, she-"</p><p>"Alright, Robin, thank you," Alison cut in. "You can fill her in later. What's your name, sweetie?"</p><p>"Heidi."</p><p>"I love that book!" cried Kitty. "Oh, I'm sure we'll get along wonderfully!"</p><p>Heidi's face softened a little as Kitty ran up to her, burbling. "Tell me all about you! What's your favourite book? Do you like sleepovers? Do you like eggs? I actually didn't at first, but then..."</p><p>Kitty's voice faded away as Alison turned to face Mike, who had reappeared outside.</p><p>"Police are on their way," he said, glancing down at the death scene. "God, that's awful."</p><p>"She doesn't seem to mind too much, weirdly," said Alison, looking over to where Thomas had now grabbed Heidi's arm and was asking her about poetry.</p><p>"She?" said Mike. "You don't mean?"</p><p>"Yup," Alison nodded. "Looks like we've got another one."</p><p>"Oh God," said Mike. "Well, police will be here in a little bit. Why don't we help them lot round up their stuff before we talk to them? Get it over and done with."</p><p>"Yeah," said Alison. "Good idea."</p><p>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>"We're so sorry, again," Alison said as the campers all climbed into the minivan. Mike was standing by the house, still not quite forgiven for his earlier remark.<br/>
"Oh, it's not your fault," the man said from the driver's seat. "Heidi loved her studies. Never saw her do anything else, really. Poor girl just slipped and fell and hit her head."</p><p>"Mmm," Alison said. The body was out of the lake now, wrapped in a body bag and in the back of the forensics van after being dubbed an "accidental death". A cut to the head from a branch, presumably from when she fell in, plus a bruise from where she had hit her head off of a rock. "We really are so, so sorry. Thanks for, uh, not pressing charges."</p><p>"Can hardly blame you for her actions, can we? Besides, we told all the kids to stay away from the lake. Accidents happen," he added sadly.</p><p>"Will they be OK?" Alison asked, indicating to the four children in the back of the minivan.</p><p>"They'll be OK. They're used to goodbyes. We'll talk it through." he said sighing. "We'd best be off."</p><p>"Bye," said Alison, as the van drove away.</p><p>"Do you think we'll have to put this on the website?" Mike asked. "I mean, will it draw in business or stop it completely?"</p><p>"Dunno," put in Alison. "C'mon," she said, turning back down the driveway. "I want to see how she's doing."</p><p>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>The living room was in its usual state of chaos. Robin and Julian sat at either end of the chessboard, screaming at each other. Kitty, Mary and Pat were watching Friends on the laptop, arguing about who the best character was. Thomas was listening to his music in the corner and Fanny was reading another "outrageous" novel on the music stand. And Humphrey was... nowhere to be seen. The Captain was standing in the doorway, watching Heidi intently as she looked out of the window. Alison's sudden appearance next took him by surprise.</p><p>"Oh, Alison," he said, a little shakily. "Hello."</p><p>"Hi Captain," she said, following his gaze towards Heidi. The girl looked sad, she thought, as though she had something rather heavy upon her shoulders. It was an emotion she had only ever seen in one other person.</p><p>"Captain," she said, an idea forming in her mind. "Can I ask you to do something for me?"</p><p>"Of course," he replied.</p><p>"You wouldn't talk to her for me, would you? I would, but Mike and I have a call about a wedding in an hour."</p><p>"Me?" the Captain asked.</p><p>"Yeah," Alison said. "Well, Robin's likely to scare the poor girl, Mary to scream Satanic accusations, Kitty can be a little, um, over-enthusiastic, Thomas is a little too melodramatic, Humphrey's a head, Pat's a little too light spirited, Fanny will just criticise everything and Julian's <em>Julian.</em> So, I just thought you'd be best."</p><p>"Oh, very well then," the Captain replied stiffly, but Alison saw the gleam of pride in his steely blue eyes.</p><p>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>It was later. The sky was just beginning to darken, not unusual for a cold March evening. Thomas was sitting on a windowsill, looking down at the lake in that dramatic manner that only he could muster, staring intently. Julian appeared beside him, having lost to Robin at chess (again).</p><p>"Alright, mate?" he asked, noticing Thomas' expression of discontent.</p><p>"No," Thomas muttered, glancing around. "Something about this whole situation just doesn't feel right to me somehow."</p><p>"Here we go; here comes the monologue."</p><p>"Perhaps it is the genius in me," Thomas began.</p><p>"Doubt that."</p><p>"But this whole disaster had outed my inner sleuth. Something's not quite right, and I am determined to get to the bottom of it!” the Regency poet declared dramatically. Julian rolled his eyes.</p><p>“Alright, Sherlock Holmes,” he muttered. </p><p>“I’ll need help, of course,” Thomas said. “You can be my Watson!”</p><p>“You what?”</p><p>“My colleague, my assistant,” continued Thomas, now rambling. </p><p>“Assistant? Me?” Julian scoffed. “I’ll have you know; I was a respected member of Parliament, not a little assistant!”</p><p>“I didn’t know politicians could be respected.”</p><p>“Ah-bah-bah, not the point!” Julian stated. “What’s in it for me, if I help you?”</p><p>Thomas shrugged. “It’s this or chess.”</p><p>“Yeah, fair enough,” Julian agreed, the thought of being defeated by Robin for another 20 times sour in his brain. “So, uh, what are your suspicions, exactly?”</p><p>Thomas bounced on the balls of his feet. “Well, you see…”  </p><p>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>“Oh, hello Pat,” Kitty sighed as the Scoutmaster sank down on the sofa next to her. Pat was surprised by the usually very bubbly ghost’s tone. </p><p>“Everything alright, Kitty?” he asked. Kitty sighed again.</p><p>“I just miss Alison so much, she’s been on that call for hours now, and I don’t quite know what to do,” the Georgian woman explained. Alison had been talking on the phone for precisely fifteen minutes.</p><p>“Well, if you want something to do,” Pat said, “You could always help me think of tonight’s Club.”</p><p>“Really? You’d let me come up with a Club?”</p><p>“Of course,” he said. “I know you’ll come up with something fun!”</p><p>“Oh, thank you Pat!” Kitty cried happily.</p><p>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>“Sorry, how many guests?” Alison asked down the phone. “50, OK. Could you just wait for just one minute? Thanks.” Alison spun around and stared at Mike.</p><p>“Mike! How many people can we fit in here?” she asked, looking around the function room. Mike shrugged.</p><p>“Um… a lot?” he offered.</p><p>“80. 40 on each side, eight rows of five chairs, which leaves a suitably sized isle down the middle,” the Captain said, appearing by her side from seemingly nowhere. </p><p>“Uh, we can fit 50 people, yeah,” she said, returning to her call, dipping a nod of gratitude in the Captain’s direction. "Great, great, so when do you want to come over and see the place?"</p><p>The Captain left the room quietly in search of Heidi. He had been keeping an eye on the new young ghost as per Alison's request, although he hadn't quite had the chance to talk to her yet.</p><p>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>Heidi was in the kitchen with Mary, who was giving her a thorough lesson on how to properly de-gizzard a pheasant. Heidi, though slightly disgusted, still listened carefully as she was always keen to learn anything new.</p><p>"And then you wants to grab the bird by it's legs and holds it tightly so's you can pull the gizzards out, and then you cooks it," Mary concluded. Heidi clapped politely. Mary, noticing the girl's sad demeanour, sat down next to her.</p><p>"How is you feeling?" she asked. Heidi shrugged.</p><p>"For once, I don't know the answer," she said. "I feel angry, sad, stupid, and confused for a start."</p><p>"Oh, that's a lot of feelings, that is," said Mary. "Why not thinks about each one separately? Why do you feels angry?"</p><p>"Well, because I'm dead," Heidi replied. "And, well, there's nobody to blame but myself, I suppose."</p><p>"You don't have to blames anyone," Mary said wisely. "Not your fault you slips in lake. Not Alison's fault you slips in lake. Not our fault you slips in lake. But you still slips in lake," she continued, "so you wants a reason why. You wants a reason as to why you had to dies."</p><p>Heidi thought for a moment. "Yes, I suppose that's true. It's just frustrating, having nobody to blame. Not even me!" she added, throwing her hands in the air.</p><p>In a half-empty (Kitty would say half-full) cup of water, sitting alone on the kitchen counter, a single droplet of water jumped up and crashed back down again onto the water's rippling surface as Heidi lowered her hands, but neither of the two ghosts noticed.</p><p>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>"You see!" Thomas cried, holding an arm out towards the lake. Julian squinted.</p><p>"Not really, no."</p><p>Thomas sighed. "Look," he said, pulling Julian towards the lake. "If you were to fall into the lake from this position here, what would you do?"</p><p>"What sort of question is that?"</p><p>"Just- what would you do?"</p><p>"I don't know what I'd do, do I! Nobody exactly plans to just fall into a lake!"</p><p>"You're right, they don't," Thomas said, stamping on Julian's toes, taking him by surprise. Julian's arms flailed in the air momentarily before he turned his body around and clutched at the tree, however, being a ghost, his hand instead passed straight through the branch and found himself falling face-first into the lake instead, in all his trouser-less glory.</p><p>"What was that for?"</p><p>"To prove a point," Thomas said. "You turned yourself around to try and grab the tree, ending up face-first in the lake instead of back-first."</p><p>"Right. And?" Julian asked, still confused.</p><p>"This proves that Heidi did not just "slip" into the lake, as you so kindly demonstrated," Thomas declared. "Oh my, this could make a wonderful poem. "The Lady of the Lake": "</p><p>"Here we go."</p><p>
  <em>"Oh, cold waters that swallowed her whole,<br/>
That whipped and twisted her, battered and blistered her,<br/>
No hand to reach out for did you let her see,<br/>
To let her grab, to let her grasp, to save her from your ice-cold clasp,<br/>
She did not fall, nor did she trip</em> -Hang on."
</p><p>"What now?"</p><p>"How did she fall in, then, in such a manner?"</p><p>Julian scoffed. </p><p>“Well, <em>clearly-”</em> he began, before hesitating. He may have a First from Cambridge, but he had no qualifications in solving murders.  Julian’s brow furrowed.</p><p>“Actually, you have a point, mate. How did this all happen?”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hope you enjoyed that, you Button House Babes. Chapter two will be out... whenever because I tend to write things on a whim. </p><p>Comment below what you thought, what I could do better etc.</p><p>Thanks for reading xx</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>